MENIFEE: Preservation of historical site thwarts trail plan

Tucked away in a quiet corner of Menifee are the remnants of the people who called the area home hundreds of years ago. Petroglyphs, stones used to grind flour and burial mounds, dot an undeveloped field on the cityâs western edge.

Yet preservation of the site has thwarted plans for the cityâs current residents, who are trying to design a trails system meant to run from Riverside County to the Orange County beaches.

A county trails plan that the city inherited when it incorporated called for the land to remain open to the public for trail use. The closing of the area severed that trail system, according to Rick Croy, a former Menifee trails committee member.

âItâs the one piece of the pie thatâs missing,â Croy said.

The city plans to appoint a parks commission in March that will be responsible for finding a new path, but there will be no easy fix.

The property was originally owned by Brookfield Homes, the lead developer in the Audie Murphy Ranch project. The company donated more than 100 acres to the Pechanga Band of LuiseÃ±o Indians in 2003. The tribe then closed the land to the public.

There are no plans to change that, according to Tribal Chairman Mark Macarro.

âOur long-term plan for this site is simply preservation and protection,â he said via email. âObviously, a public trail system across this heritage parcel would totally and completely conflict with the goal of avoiding further encroachment and damage to this historic and culturally important site.â

Macarro noted that the Audie Murphy Ranch development covers what was once a large, important and thriving LuiseÃ±o village complex.

âA lot of historic and cultural resources were forever lost because of this particular project, but we managed to save just a small sliver that the developer was required to donate as part of the mitigation efforts agreed to for this project,â he wrote.

Menifee officials have contacted the tribe in hopes of keeping the trail system intact so the public could see the relics, but nothing came of the discussions, said Councilman Tom Fuhrman.

âIt would be nice to educate people about the Indians who lived here,â he said, suggesting the trail could be a field trip destination for schoolchildren.

During a recent interview at the site, he pointed out a large boulder with worn red drawings of a bear, a bird, several rows of teepees and a sign of a more modern resident: the words âNO HUNTINGâ at the top.

âThis stuff is museum quality,â Fuhrman said.

The site is fenced off with roughly hewn wooden posts and barbed wire, though people regularly break through the fence to ride off-road vehicles on the land, Fuhrman said. Neighbors voluntarily repair the fences regularly, he said.

While Brookfield Homes donated the site to the Pechanga tribe, it was still required to give the city a trail that is open to the public. Unfortunately, no feasible site was near the previous trail, according to a December City Council staff report.

City officials considered putting the trail on the next parcel to the west of the preserved site, but a steep mountain would make it impractical, said Menifee Mayor Scott Mann.

âIt would take more money that what we have to put a 10-foot-wide trail through there,â he said.

In the end, Brookfield set aside some land on the west side of the development adjacent to Canyon Lake Community Church. In addition, it gave the city $50,000 to build its own trail, which the city accepted in December.

The city will now need to find a place to build a trail that will connect to the cityâs other paths, said Marty Rosen, the former chairman of the cityâs trails committee and member of the countyâs trails commission.

âThe purpose (of the trails master plan) was to have connectivity,â he said. âAt this point, weâll have to look for another method.â

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